Tigre dantero
, , , |Reported = 1961 |Researchers = • Karl Shuker • Bernard Heuvelmans}} The tigre dantero (Spanish: "tapir-eating tiger" ) is a cryptid felid reported from the montane forests of , , and ,Shuker, Karl P. N. "Venezuelan Mystery Cats," Fortean Times 383 (September 2019) as well as from in one dubious sighting, described as a long-fanged cat smaller than, or the same size as, a jaguar. Speculated to be a living sabre-toothed cat or a living sparassodont, these reports, alongside sightings of aquatic water tigers, present an exact parallel with the African tigre de montagne and water lions. It is also sometimes referred to as the wairarima, a name which can also apply to a different cryptid felid. Description These unknown cats are described as striped animals with two very large protruding teeth, and are said to be somewhat smaller than a jaguar: the "mutant jaguar" specimen was allegedly 160 pounds with 12'' fangs. A 1991 sighting from Venezuela described a jaguar-sized animal with light brown fur, a short tail, large fangs, and powerful, well-built forelimbs. In Venezuela, they are said to prey on tapirs, and they are always reputed to be very shy and rare animals, reported from deep montane forests. Sightings Undated An French itinerant named Picquet told Peter Matthiessen sometime before 1966 that he had glimpsed one of these cats in Colombia or Ecuador. Matthiessen thought Picquet was being sincere, but ultimately decided he must have been mistaken about what he saw. Picquet himself seemed to attatch little significance to the sighting, and retold it matter-of-factly.Matthiessen, Peter (1966) The Cloud Forest 1975 In 1975, an unusual big cat was allegedly killed in , and examined by zoologist Juan Acavar, who supposedly identified it as a living Smilodon weighing 160 pounds, with 12' fangs. However, to avoid causing any hysteria, either Acavar or the authorities declared that it was a "mutant jaguar" with a jaw deformation. The fate of the body is unclear, although according to some sources, it was incinerated. The original source for the story is unknown, and Karl Shuker has been unable to track down Acavar himself. 1984 A 1998 Science Ilustrée article mentioned that a sabre-toothed cat had been seen emerging from a cave in Paraguay by a French sailor named "François Piquet" in 1984.Anon. "Le félin aux dents de sabre," Science Illustrée 62 (December 1998) Michel Raynal suggests that this account originated in a confusion of Matthiessen's original description of Pi''c''quet's sighting, which was published twenty years earlier, and Christian Le Noël's near-encounter with a tigre de montagne in a cave in Africa.Raynal, Michel "Sabre-toothed cats in Paraguay?" Institut Virtuel de Cryptozoologie cryptozoo.pagesperso-orange.fr 24 May 2019 Loren Coleman also writes that this report, if not a new case, could be a rehashing of Matthiessen's story. The Science Ilustrée article also alleges that another sabre-toothed cat had been seen in . 1991 A Pemon hunter named Tirson Sosa claimed that in the dry season of 1991, whilst hunting "about three days upriver on the left bank of the Carrao River," he saw a long-fanged, short-tailed, unpatterned cat the size of a jaguar emerge from a thicket to drink from a pool of water. It appeared stealthily, and vanished cautiously. Tirson Sosa identified the animal he saw as a wairarima. Dientes de sable Espacio Misterio espaciomisterio.com 11 June 2019 Theories Peter Matthiessen briefly toyed with the idea that the cat seen by Picquet could have been a surviving sabre-toothed cat, but quickly dismissed the notion. Eyewitness Tirson Sosa directly identified the animal he saw in 1991 with a picture of Smilodon which he was shown. Karl Shuker notes that, given the apparent extinction or extirpation of most of South America's large herbivorous animals, it is unlikely that a full-sized Smilodon populator could survive there in the present day; however, he suggests that a smaller form would have a better chance of carving out a niche for itself, "especially in relatively inaccessible, undisturbed areas, such as remote, mountainous cloud forests," where a striped coat would provide it with effective camouflage. One species, Smilodon gracilis, was smaller. Another way for a sabre-toothed cat to find a niche for itself in modern South America would be to become a semi-aquatic animal, and indeed, such cryptids are reported from the length and breadth of the continent. If the animals are sabre-toothed cats, they are likely to be descendants of either the famous Smilodon, which ranged across much of South America, or the smaller, shorter-fanged South American scimitar-toothed cat (Homotherium venezuelensis), which made it at least as far south as Venezuela, and possibly Uruguay. Bernard Heuvelmans, whilst conceding that sabre-toothed cats like Smilodon could be involved, felt more comfortable speculating that these striped montane forest cats could be surviving relatives of Thylacosmilus, a cat-like sparassodont marsupial which closely resembled Smilodon, but which is believed to have gone extinct before cats even arrived in South America. Similar cryptids Amphibious long-fanged feline cryptids, water tigers, are also reported from South America. If both cryptids are indeed sabre-toothed cats, this would be paralleled in Africa with the water lion and the tigre de montagne, which are also speculated to be surviving sabre-toothed cats. Notes and references Do you think the exists? If so, what do you think the is? Myth, folklore, hoax, or otherwise made-up Mistaken identity Living sabre-toothed cat Living Thylacosmilus Category:Cryptids Category:South America Category:Colombia Category:Ecuador Category:Paraguay Category:Venezuela Category:Felids Category:Theory: Living fossil - Sabre toothed cat Category:Theory: Living fossil - Sparassodont Category:1975 Category:1984 Category:1991